Those radical peace disturbers in Afghanistan, the Taliban, have ordered the nation to shut off its cell towers between the hours of 5pm and  7am every day - or face repercussions. No, the edict has no religious or moral significance. It’s a misunderstanding of western military technology - and perhaps Google Maps.

Afghan CellWar in Afghanistan has ravaged the landline phone system so most communications are performed over wireless. Everyone from the Allies to the Afghani people to the Taliban rebels rely on cell phones. Since Google Maps has been using software that tracks your position via cell towers, word must have gotten out to the Taliban. Now they believe that same technology is employed by allied forces to track their positions.

In response to their own misunderstanding of the technology, the rebels have ordered the curfew on Afghanistan’s four major wireless network operators.

Of course the US military doesn’t need cell tower triangulation to track rebel troop movements. It has satellite systems that can spy on them at any time of night or day. But it’s interesting how technologies we take for granted are interpreted in very different situations.

There is something tantalizingly primal about the fear that something you rely on and trust like a tool or a cell phone is conspiring against you.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 9:37 am and is filed under Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.